Flex 4.5.1 runtime ReferenceError: Error #1065: Variable ... is not defined

Question

Ok, I need some help on this one. I upgraded from Flash Builder 4 to Flash Builder 4.5 and have switched my project to the 4.5.1 sdk. I use an ant script to build my project, so I modified it to use the appropriate flexTasks.jar, mxmlc, etc...

Now, if I start out with a blank bin-debug folder, then build and run the app everything works fine. However, if I then make a code change and build (without deleting the bin-debug) then run the app I get a runtime error:

ReferenceError: Error #1065: Variable ... is not defined.
at flash.display::MovieClip/nextFrame()
at mx.managers::SystemManager/deferredNextFrame()[E:\dev\4.5.1\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:284]
at mx.managers::SystemManager/preloader_preloaderDocFrameReadyHandler()[E:\dev\4.5.1\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:2633]
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()
at mx.preloaders::Preloader/timerHandler()[E:\dev\4.5.1\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\preloaders\Preloader.as:515]
at flash.utils::Timer/_timerDispatch()
at flash.utils::Timer/tick()

Again, if I delete the bin-debug folder and compile again it runs with no problems.

The variable it complains about is always a Class variable that points to an image file used as an icon. The code I use to create the var:

[Embed(source="/assets/icons/close-32x32.png")] 
public var closeIcon:Class;

The file exists, and I verified that when it gives that error the file is in the bin-debug/assets/icons folder and the src/assets/icons/ folder.

After the error is thrown, if I hit the continue button in Flash Builder it then throws the same error again on the next Class variable pointing to an image file.

Any ideas? The delete/recompile takes several minutes, so obviously this is driving me mad.

Edit: Ant task that compiles in debug mode:

<target name="compile-debug">
    <echo>Compile MXML</echo>
    <mxmlc 
        file="${SRC_DIR}/${MAIN_SOURCE_FILE}"               
        debug="true"
        optimize="false"
        output="${DEBUG_DIR}/${APP_ROOT_FILE}" 
        append="true"               
        actionscript-file-encoding="UTF-8"              
        keep-generated-actionscript="false"
        link-report="MyReport.xml"
        maxmemory="2048m"
        incremental="true">

        <!-- Get default compiler options. -->
        <load-config filename="${FLEX_HOME}/frameworks/flex-config.xml"/>
        <load-config filename="${FLEX_HOME}/frameworks/air-config.xml"/>

        <!-- List of path elements that form the roots of ActionScript class hierarchies. -->
        <source-path path-element="${FLEX_HOME}/frameworks"/>

        <!-- Include Themes -->
        <!-- NOTE: Spark theme required -->
        <theme dir="${FLEX_HOME}/frameworks/themes/Spark/">
        <include name="spark.css" />
        </theme>
        <theme dir="${FLEX_HOME}/samples/themes/spark_graphite/">
        <include name="spark_graphite.css" />
        </theme>                

        <!-- List of SWC files or directories that contain SWC files. -->
        <compiler.library-path dir="${FLEX_HOME}/frameworks" append="true">
        <include name="libs" />
        <include name="../bundles/{locale}" />                  
        </compiler.library-path>

        <!-- uncomment if you have external libs (swc files) -->    
        <library-path dir="${LIB_DIR}/riaspace/" append="true">
        <include name="*.swc" />
        </library-path> 
        <library-path dir="${LIB_DIR}/AlivePDF/" append="true">
        <include name="*.swc" />
        </library-path>             
        <library-path dir="${LIB_DIR}/coltware/" append="true">
        <include name="*.swc" />
        </library-path>
    </mxmlc>

</target>

Where FLEX_HOME = < path to flash builder >/sdks/4.5.1

Answer 1

The answer is buried in the middle of Maxim's post that he referenced in a comment above:

--> Try turning off incremental compilation.

I had the same issue here with a simple mimeType='application/octet-stream' embed, and when reading Maxim's text this jumped out because I'd recently changed my custom build tools to use inremental compilation: "Embed sometimes fails during incremental compilation"

The result of this failure is that the .swf contains something like this:

<DefineBinaryData id='1' length='1024' />

which looks like it's empty, instead of this (from the working file):

<DefineBitsLossless2 id='1' encoding='base64'>
(.. in my case, 1024 bytes of base64-encoded data)
</DefineBitsLossless2>

(This solved it for me, so a big thank-you to Maxim. I hope it solves it for you too.)

Answer 2

I had the same problem, so I "Clean"ed the project and then re ran. It worked.

Answer 3

I have Flash Builder 4.7 and am using sdk 4.5.1A.

I was using Flash Player debugger version 15 before Christmas of 2014 and everything was working. I had Firefox set up as the default browser. However, in 2015, Adobe has a new player so I upgraded to version 16 and that's when I got the same problem. After much struggle, I found that the problem had to do with the new version of Firefox Flash player debugger. I had to switch the default browser to Internet Explorer and installed the Internet Explorer Flash player debugger. Prior to debugging, I had to clean and update first. Then everything worked again!